The Sound of Brownian Motion

[Aggie]

BBC article on the development of laser-based "micron-phones" that can detect sound over very small scales:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8529232.stm

The real  factor for me is not the technology, but the sound clip of Brownian motion - atoms and molecules bumping into each other. 

[Griffin NoName]

Remarkable. One could listen to the sound of one's child being conceived?

Disappointed in the Brownian motion - such a tiny sound coming from our great bully of a leader

[Aggie]

Remarkable. One could listen to the sound of one's child being conceived?

In vitro, yes, it would appear so.

_{Don't you mean 'grandchild'?}

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Sounds like a micro version of the laser device used to listen to conversations by targeting a window and reading the vibrations of the reflection. Cool stuff.

[The Meromorph]

I used to have better hearing than I do now (I used to be a recording engineer also), and I could hear significantly above the standard human range (quite a lot of people can). I used to often hear the brownian motion of the air molecules in still air at over 110 F (below that it's not realy loud enough, and the highr the temp the higher the frequency - for me I could not hear it over about 125 F...

In the summer in Kentucky, I could often hear it when on the road (blacktop), but not over the fields away from the road (where it was slightly cooler).

[Sibling DavidH]

Wow!  When I was a kid I could easily hear the mechanical vibrations of the line output transformer on our old 405-line telly. 405x25=10,125 Hz, not very high for a kid.
But when we got the new 625-line PAL system I couldn't hear it (625x25=16,625 Hz), although I was only about 12.
What do you reckon the frequency of the Brownian motion is at around 110^oF?  I guess it's much higher than 10KHz.

_{BTW don't forget the European rate is 50 fps, not 60, which is in reality only 25 frames transmitted and interlaced to give 50.}

[Swatopluk]

I wonder how it is not simply downed by the sound the blood makes in one's ear.

[Sibling DavidH]

But I haven't got any blood in my ears. 

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

as long you don't have blood in your hands...